Football is one of the most popular sports in the United States. The sport is played at all levels beginning in youth leagues with players as young as six years old and extends to the professional football leagues such as but not limited to the National Football League. As is known in the art, during a game of football, two teams field eleven players with one team having offensive possession of the football and the opposing team being defensive with the offensive possession team being provided four plays to achieve a gain of ten yards in order to receive a subsequent set of downs. The offensive team's objective is to move the position of the football down the field in order to score a touchdown or field goal while the defensive team acts to inhibit the progress of the offensive team.
During the offensive possession, the football is marked intermediate each down during advancement towards the first down marker. As the team executes subsequent downs the down being executed is displayed, i.e. a referee will display on a post what down is being played. Another pair of referees are used to operate what is commonly referred to as the chains. The chains includes two poles and a chain operably coupled intermediate the two poles with the chain being exactly ten yards long. The lead pole is used to provide a visual reference as to where the offensive team needs to move the football to in order to achieve a subsequent set of downs.
One problem with the conventional method as described herein for displaying downs and measuring for the achievement of a first down is accuracy. While the chains do provide a visual reference on the sideline, the fact that it is located on the sideline makes it difficult for a player to accurately see where the first down marker is located. Additionally, the present system does not provide on the sideline exactly how many yards are needed in order to achieve a first down.
Accordingly, there is a need for a sports field marking system that provides a visual indicator superposed across the width of the field and further is operable to provide accurate location information of the football relative to the required position for achievement of the first down.